The Badawiyyah, Sufi tarika

Tarika

Tarika may refer to:*Tarika , musical group from Madagascar*Tariqah, school of Sufism...

, was founded in the thirteenth century in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 by Ahmad al-Badawi

Ahmad al-Badawi

The Shaykh Ahmad Al-Badawī was a Muslim founder of the Badawiyyah Sufi order. He was born in Fes, Morocco in 596 AH and died in Tanta, Egypt in 675 AH...

 (1199-1276). As a tarika, the Badawiyyah lacks any distinct doctrines. It has produced no major teachers or writers; instead it is a popular cult whose conduct has always been subject to the censure of the Ulama.

It was, however, extremely popular during both the Mamluk and Ottoman periods of Egypt. Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

 Sultans often supported elaborate 'Mawlids' at the resting place of Sheikh

Sheikh

Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...

 Ahmed al-Badawi (or Seyyid Badawi as he is more commonly known) in the Nile Delta

Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...

 town of Tanta

Tanta

Tanta is a city in Egypt. It is the country's fifth largest populated area, with an estimated 429,000 inhabitants . Tanta is located north of Cairo and southeast of Alexandria...

.

During the Ottoman period, this order spread to Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 and there were several Tekkes

Zawiyya

The word zawiyya can refer to a sufi brotherhood or the shrine of a saint. Zawiyyas used to be very common in especially North Africa and Iran.-References:...

 or zawiyas in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 many of which survived until the founding of the Turkish republic.

The moulid of Seyyid Badawi is still celebrated in Egypt every year where the population of Tanta swells to almost double. Tents are placed in the streets around the Mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 of Seyyid Badawi where Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

 recitations and sermons by important scholars from al-Azhar Mosque

Al-Azhar Mosque

Al-Azhar Mosque is a mosque in Islamic Cairo in Egypt. Al-Mu‘izz li-Dīn Allāh of the Fatimid Caliphate commissioned its construction for the newly established capital city in 970. Its name is usually thought to allude to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, a revered figure in Islam...

are delivered.